44 MYSTERIES OF THE FLOWERS 



send their stigmas as far as possible away from the 

 pollen. 



If a pistil is much longer than the stamens, it 

 is likely to receive the first touch of an approaching 

 insect, and will thus brush off and hold any pollen 

 that he is bringing from another flower. We know 

 that flowers are wise in their generation, and ready 

 to seize upon any invention which will help them 

 in their stniggle, so many of them have sa- 

 gaciously adopted the above-mentioned scheme. 



Pistils longer than the Stamens 



Pink Azalea — Rhododendron nudiflorum 

 April-Mai/ 



liCt us go to the edge of some wood and watch 

 the flowers of the pink azalea, with their long styles 



and protruding stig- 

 mas, and study the 

 action of the moths 

 and butterflies — 

 guests whose long, 

 prehensile beaks are 

 just fitted to reach 

 deep down into the 

 trumpet and suck 

 the honey, and whose bodies are just long enough 

 to receive on the under side of the abdomen a touch 



AZALEA AND MOTH 



